Pneumatic sieve.



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YNEUMATIG SIEVE. APPLICATION FILED Amm, 1908.

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EDWARD nrmnmnen, or MORBISVILLE, rnNNsYLvANIA, AssreNon To THE J. L. .Mom IRON WORKS, A CORPORATION or NEW YORK.

'PNEUMATIC SIEVE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 15, 1910.

" Application mea .Aprn 1, isos. segr-.11.2.2 No. 424,496.

To all whom et may concern.:

Be it.v known that I, EDWARD DI'rHRmGn, a citizen of the United States of America, and .a lresident of Morrisville, in the county of Bucksand State-of Pennsylvania, have invented certain nevv and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Sievcs, of Which the followingisa specification. y

The object of-my invention is to provide a pneumaticV sieve of exceedingly simple construction; which can be very readily and ...easily handled;l and the action of-Which, in delivering its contents, can be very readily and easily controlled.' y

My inventio-n relates more particularly to that class of sieves Which is commonlyl known f as a dredger, that is to say, a sieve Which `is designed to receive material of uniform size and to sift, sprinkle or discharge thesame -upon some object which it is designed to coator cover. Such sieves have'long been used.l in `the enameling of bathr tubs andl other castings inl which case the material to.

be sifted consists of dry powdered enamel. This enamel is sprinkled dry over the surface ofka red-hot tub or other casting and fuses with theheat of the article to which it is applied. My invention, however, is applicable with advantage to other styles of .sieves, namely, those in which` materials of different sizes are to bc assorted by jarring the 'contents' of thesieve so that the smaller particles fall through, and is also applicablel to disturb the. contents and keep them in motion, the .necessary jar for" `teeping .the meshes,v of the sieve from clogging and to cause the-material to 4lovv as desired through the'v sieve has been caused by some form of I automatic or pneumatic tapper or hammer which. operatedI mechanically or pneumatically' to strike the'side of the sieve With such vforce and such frequency as experience showed the particular 'purpose in lView required. Whensuch automatic or pneumatic -means were not employed the blows Weregiven by a hand hammer or beater Which had the. advantage. over the automatic or pneumatic tapping that it co-uld be instantly stopped whenever yoccasion arose. lVhen such automatic or pneumatic tappers were employed they 'Were attached or secured to, and consequently carried by, the sieve or the sieve handle or the frame-Work supporting the sieve, and sometimes this was the case also with the hand tapper.

Among the disadvantages inherent in having the hammer'or agitator or beater or tapper or Whatever it may be called secured to or carried by ,the sieve or dredger or anything rigidly connected with it, I have found the followingz-It is diiiicultand sometimes impossible to stop the blows suddenly. It is difficult to vary and control. the force of the blows. When either the tapper or the sieve getsout of order the apparatus is out of commission until repairs are made. rIhe motive power has to be stopped in order to stop the Iiow of material from the sieve. There are other disadvantages.I To overcome these disadvantages, and to combine the advantages of an automatic or pneumatic tapper With those of the old hand tapper, I provide-an apparatus in which the tapping device is not carried or in any way attached to or secured to the sieve, but. is entirely separate from it as was the case with the oldhand tapper. VYett'he sieve is so constructed that it can be operated by 'the aid of a pneumatic hammer or any other power driven automatically operating de- 4 vice so as to takeadvantage of 'the rapidity of succession in the tapsv administered.

In carrying out this invention, therefore, I provide a vsieve or sifting apparatus Which is complete in itself and which is adapted to receive the necessary taps from anysuitable tapping device, power-driven or handoperated. And I provide a poWer-dr1ven tapper, preferably a pneumatic hammer, ofA a size and Weight adapted to be conveniently held in the hand of the Workman, yand to be Vbrought into contact with said sieve Whenever a tapping action is desired.

When my nnproved pneumatic sieve is vused for enameling bath tubs it is preferable to have the handle-of the sieve supported by chains or otherwise from the ceiling of the foundry or other fixed support in suf- I icient proximity to the cradle on Which the in the hand and not require this outside or over-head support.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a simple form of my improved device.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the sieve.

F ig. 2 is a side elevation of an ordinary.

pneumatic hammer such as used for many purposes, including the chipping of bath tubs when provided with a suitable chisel or chipping tool, and showing a part of the air supply pipe.

I use this without any chisel or substitute therefor because the tapping which I employ does not consistof positive blows delivered against the side of the sieve as has heretofore been the case, but is more in the nature of a vibration or a succession of shaking or trembling undulations passing molecularly through the substance of the handle and sieve, from which they are delivered to the material in the sieve. The molecular agitation of this material thereby becomes sufficient to cause itfto flow steadily through the meshes of the sieve. This flow lasts while the agitation lasts,'stops when the agitation stops, and varies with the amount of agitation which is easily con-4 trolled.

A. is a sieve of suitable construction which, as usually employed for enameling bath tubs, is .a .drum-shaped body of circular form made of metal with a mesh of fine wire stretched over the bottom and drawn tight by means of the band a., and screwthreaded rods Z), b, in the usual way. B is a handle, preferably solid and of wood, although a hollow metal handlel or a metal handle filled with wood might be substituted, if preferred. This handle is attached to the sieve by a suitable, socket c, and is preferably suspended from` the ceiling lor other fixed support by chains, cords, or

wires (l, d. There is nothing new about this part of the construction, the handle being old and the sieve being old, as well as the means for'tightening the sievemesh and for attaching the handle to the sieve. 60

The novelty of my improved sieve consists in providing a cup C, which is attached to any convenient part of the sieve handle, preferably at the extreme end, as shown. By-the addition of this cup the sieve becomes adapted for operation by any suiteaeaa ablehammer or beater whether electric, pneumatic, hydraulic, or driven bysteain 01 any mechanical power.

I) represents a pneumatic hammer or tool of usual construction and may be any of the usual and well known types, which have been put upon the market, in which an internal agitation is produced by the rapid driving back and forth in the .interior of the hammer 0f a piston or other moving `part by the admission and exhaust of air or any suitable gas. Sometimes these hammers have avalve and sometimes they are valveless. As heretofore used such hammers have been provided with some kind of a tool such as a chisel, a gouge, a bit, a hammer-head, or some other device the shank of which enters the nozzle of the hammer and.' receives the blows ofthe reciprocating piston. In my use of these hammers I dispense with any such auxiliary tool as I do not utilize lor desire to use any direct pounding action but simply the molecular vibration caused by the rapid reciprocationy of the piston back and forth inside the hammer, which -ao vibration is communicated to the wooden; handle from the air inside'of the'hammerfwhich air enters through the fiexible tube c 1- The cup or funnel C, serves 'chiefly asa guide or rest for the nozzle of the-hammer or other beating device, and the interior, therefore, may be tapered as shown in dotted lines so as topresent a recess of such size and shape as to permit the nozzle to enter and to be withdrawn easily. Itis not desired to make a tight tit, yet the cup 'should not be so large relatively tothe nozzle as to lose its usefulness in preventing the'nozzle from too great sidewise or up and down moving while in action.

In using this improved sieve the workman holds the hammer D, easily in his hand by grasping the roughened collar f, and inserts the nozzle g, inthe cup C', so that his hand rests partly on the hammer and partly on the cup holding the two together by an easy grasp. I have found that while large variations in the vibratory action of the hammer cank be brought about by, controlling the vvalve which admits air te the hammer so as to supply greaterl or less power, such control will be very seldom required, but the smaller variations, upon which the proper 'andedective use of the sieve depends, are controlled by simply tightening or relaxing the muscles of the hand in holding the hammer and the cup. If it is desired to have the enamel flow a little quicker all the. workman has to do is to tighten his grip, and if slower to loosen his grip.

As is well-known in enamelmg tubs and other articles by the dry process, that is,

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' proper position surface or the surface has to be moved under the sieve. In both cases it frequently becomes necessary to stop the flow abrupt-ly in order to avoid putting too much enamel on some spotsor Wasting therenamel by al-v lowing it to fall when the tub is not 1n the to receive it. I have found that the nozzle can be drawn back in the cup much more quickly, and the flow of enamel thereby stopped much more' abruptly than is possible When the momentum of the vibrating -agitator has Ito be checked by simply turning the control valve or by the application of some other mechanical brake.

In this Way I secure all the advantages of the personal skill of an experienced Workman Which attended the use of the old hand beater, and avoid the disadvantages of an automatically operated beater secured to the sieve. Another great advantage of my im handle.

as is Well known, the tub has to remain for some ten tov twentyminutes in the furnace before 1t- 1s hot enough to recelve the rst coating and also between successive coatings while the time consumedl inputting on a coat of enamel is only from three to five minutes. Byv so timing the' different furnaces that a tub can be brought out from one furnace while a tub .is being returned to the adjacent furnace the same pneumatic ,hammer can be transferred' from yone sieve to the other Without any trouble or ydelay so that one hammer would be sufficient for sev eral sieves. The many other advantages of this improved device Will, I think, be readily understood Without further description.

I claim:

A pneumatic sieve composed-of a suitable sieve body, a supporting handle adapted to 'receive and transmit a jarring motion to said sieve body7 and a cup attached to said handle of sufficient size to allow the end of a pneumatic hammer to enter and Withdraw freely, and adapted to receive vibrations therefrom and to transmit the same to said EDWARD DITHRIDGE. Witnesses:

A. A. HonHLn,

W. I). PREBLE, .I r. 

